Tuesday, August 23, 2011

It's almost time for school to start back and we're so ready. A starts in 2 short days and H won't start until after Labor Day, but it's A who needs it, and I need it for her. She just gets in this unhappy space of needing structure and rules that I don't seem to provide enough of (or don't provide them in the right way), and as much as I would love to homeschool her, I just don't think she would do well. She is such an extrovert and thrives when others are around. She loves being among people, and as hesitant as I was last year about sending her to traditional school, she's at the age and mindset where she gets off on all those rules that make me cringe. She wants to please and seems to follow school rules better than the constant pushing we get at home. Hopefully this year will be just as successful and I'm hoping those rules will rub off on our home rules that seem so unimportant when we're smooshed together 24/7 in the summer. I am concerned for her to go to a bigger school with (five 1st grade classrooms!), but I really think she'll be great. She has been missing having friends since the move, and I think she'll quickly find a few buddies and at least she'll have an outlet for her social needs.
H on the other hand is a mini-me and his transition to school may come with a little more resistance. I'm glad to have a few weeks with only him home, we'll have fun and he actually enjoys mommy being his teacher so we're going to do a bit of homeschooling and see how it goes while we're waiting for preschool (transitional kindergarten) to start back. I'm not entirely convinced he needs to go to school, I really do think I could homeschool him, but with the baby coming in November, it'll be a good thing. I've heard great things about his teachers and he'll be at the church with J so it's a good place for him to start post-move.
Anyway, we're off to meet A's teacher tonight and then enjoy one more day of sleeping in and watching tv during the week.
P.S. I have lots of wonderful pictures to share but a slow computer that won't upload them so I'm hoping I'll have more time to work with them later this week.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

We're home from Michigan, it was super-fun but super-hot. No cool breezes, no need for those sweatshirts I packed, and no A/C. The first night was miserable, after a big thunderstorm, it finally cooled off enough to go to sleep, around 2am. The next day, the fridge broke and the landlord brought over a new fridge and A/C unit for the window upstairs so that helped a bit. Basically to beat the heat, we went to the water.
Thank goodness for the water, it was WONDERFUL and we spent so much time there trying to cool off that we're quite tan now. We had a blast and didn't do much outside of stay in the little village we rent in and go swimming. We typically go sightseeing or touring around, but this year it was fun to just stay put; get donuts (almost) every morning,
visit the marina, go to the street party, and be with family. We missed Daddy a lot though and we were happy to get home and see him.
The street party was hot and there weren't any of the cool crafty booths there but it was fun. We hoola-hooped, each in our own way,
and ate and played, but then we *had* to go take a dip in the lake. Ahhh, so refreshing! H didn't even bother changing into his bathing suit.
Swimming at 9pm has it benefits, besides cooling off before bed, you get to stay and take pictures of the sunset, I took way too many, but here are a few.
It was a great trip and we can't wait to go back with Daddy next year! I have more photos to share that I'll put in another post but now I'm off to make pesto since our basil went crazy while I was gone. Mmmmm, pesto!

Welcome!

This blog was created after my husband was affirmed in his call to become an Episcopal priest. We actually lived on top of a mountain for a while in seminary, hence the blog's name, but are daily striving for those "mountaintop experiences" in our life and work so the title still fits. Here you'll find a collection of family updates, ramblings of a busy mom, stories of our adventures, possibly some recipes, and other random things that happen to be on my mind. If any of that appeals to you, welcome to Our Side of the Mountain!